Maneuvering During Slow Flight

Per the Area X note in the CFI ACS: Task A or B; Task C, D, or E; Task F, G, or H; and Task I. So slow flight and the flight-characteristics demo are alternatives to each other, you get exactly one of the three "standard" stalls, exactly one of the three CFI-only demonstration stalls, and spins are not optional.

For multiengine the evaluator must select Task A and Task C, D, or E. The reason the rest drop off is the class designation in the ACS Task titles, not a safety prohibition: Task B, Task F, Task G, and Task H are all headed "(ASEL, ASES)", so they are not available on a multiengine test at all, and Task I simply isn't selected.

Keep that separate from a multiengine rule you should also be able to state: because of the possible catastrophic consequences, single-engine stalls should not be demonstrated or practiced in multiengine airplanes (AC 61-67C, par. 200). "Single-engine stall" there means a stall with one engine inoperative — it is not a comment on which Tasks a multiengine applicant flies.

The target is an airspeed at which any further increase in AOA, increase in load factor, or reduction in power would result in a stall warning — and you fly there without the warning sounding (AI.X.A.S3, S4). The AFH puts that at roughly 5 to 10 knots above the 1G stall speed for the configuration (AFH 5-9).

Teach the students to find it rather than memorize it: in the desired configuration, slow until the stall warning activates, lower the nose slightly to silence it, add power to hold altitude, and note the resulting airspeed. That is their number for that airplane, that day (AFH 5-9).

Because you're being tested on the ability to fly the demonstration well enough that the student can see the maneuver, not just survive it. AI.X.A.S5 requires altitude ±50 feet, heading ±10°, airspeed +5/−0 knots, and bank ±5°. A demonstration that wanders 100 feet teaches the student that wandering is acceptable — and the law of primacy says what they learn first is nearly unshakable (AIH 3-13).

Build it as the explanation phase of the demonstration-performance method (AIH 5-21):

• Objective — develop the feel of flight at low airspeed and high AOA, where control response is degraded (AFH 5-9).
• Elements — clearing turns, configuration, entry, maneuvering (straight-and-level, turns, climbs, descents), recovery.
• Completion standards — recite the ACS tolerances the student will be held to.
• Sensations to expect — mushy controls, larger inputs for the same response, increased response lag, heavy right rudder, a change in wind noise (AFH 5-9).
• Safety — entry altitude, division of labor for traffic, and who has the controls.

Naming the sensations before they happen is the anxiety countermeasure: treat the fear as normal and tell them what to expect (AIH 2-12).

Below L/D MAX the airplane exhibits speed instability: if turbulence knocks the airspeed down, it will keep decaying unless the pilot reduces AOA or adds power (AFH 5-10). There is no natural tendency to recover.

Below L/D MAX small pitch changes produce disproportionately large changes in induced drag and therefore in airspeed. That's why the teaching point flips: below L/D MAX, pitch is the more effective control of airspeed and power is the effective control of the flightpath (AFH 5-10).

Torque, slipstream effect, and P-factor produce a strong left yaw at low airspeed and high power, and the closer the airplane is to the 1G stall, the more right rudder pressure is required (AFH 5-11).

AC 61-67C par. 200a gives you the demonstration script: have them center the ball with right rudder and hold heading, then release the rudder and observe the left yaw. Follow it with the adverse-yaw demonstration — turns at low airspeed with feet off the pedals (AC 61-67C, par. 200a(6)–(7)).

From AFH 5-12, the ten common errors, with the correction you name in the airplane:

1. Failure to adequately clear the area — reteach the clearing procedure on the ground.
2. Inadequate back-elevator pressure as power is reduced, losing altitude — "watch the altimeter needle stop, not the airspeed."
3. Excessive back-elevator pressure as power is reduced, ballooning then decaying rapidly — "trade the power for pitch smoothly."
4. Insufficient right rudder to compensate for left yaw — "step on the ball."
5. Fixation on the flight instruments — move their eyes outside with a pitch-attitude reference.
6. Failure to anticipate changes in AOA as flaps extend or retract — call the flap change and the pitch that goes with it.
7. Inadequate power management — "small throttle corrections; lead the trend."
8. Inability to divide attention between airplane control and orientation — assign a scan pattern out loud.
9. Failure to properly trim — "trim it off, then take your hand back."
10. Failure to respond to a stall warning — the one that is never merely cosmetic.

Not by itself. The maneuver is flown without a stall warning (AI.X.A.S4), and the required response is a prompt, appropriate correction if a warning occurs (AFH 5-9). Reduce AOA slightly, add power, and continue.

What is a failure is ignoring it. This Task's risk elements name the pair directly: AI.X.A.R1 — inadvertent slow flight and flight with a stall warning, which could lead to loss of control; and AI.X.A.R6 — distractions, task prioritization, loss of situational awareness, or disorientation. They sit together because NTSB data show most stall/spin accidents happen when the pilot is momentarily distracted from flying (AC 61-67C, par. 3 and 101). (The separate element for an unacknowledged stall warning is AI.X.B.R6, in the Task X.B demonstration.)

Set the guard rails in the brief, then enforce them:

• Entry altitude — chosen so the Task finishes no lower than 1,500 feet AGL (ASEL/ASES) or 3,000 feet AGL (AMEL/AMES) (AI.X.A.S2).
• Yaw — the single input that turns a stall into a spin. If the ball goes out and the student doesn't fix it, name it once, then take the controls.
• Abrupt inputs — abruptly raising the flaps in slow flight can stall the airplane (AFH 5-11).
• Sink rate developing with the nose coming up — the back side of the curve, where pulling alone makes it worse.

Use a positive three-way exchange every time: "My controls" — "Your controls" — "My controls."

• Typical devices alert 4 to 8 knots prior to the onset of the stall (AC 61-67C, par. 103) — that's a small margin, not a wide one.
• Certification allows the warning to come from inherent aerodynamic qualities (pre-stall buffet) instead of a device, and many vintage, light-sport, and experimental airplanes have no warning device at all (AFH 5-13).
• Most vane-type warners sense AOA at one point on one wing and know nothing about load factor, bank, or contamination.
• Ice, frost, mud, or insect residue can produce a stall with little or none of the usual warning, and post-upset data have shown stall-speed increases as high as 50 knots (AC 61-67C, par. 102).

Narrate cause and effect, one item at a time, and keep the airplane doing exactly one new thing at a time:

1. "Clearing turns — I'm looking at and below our altitude."
2. "Carb heat, power back to X inches. Watch the nose want to drop — I'm holding altitude with back pressure."
3. "Airspeed's in the white arc. Flaps ten. Notice the pitch change — I'm trimming it off."
4. "Coming up on target. Power in to stop the descent. Right rudder — feel how much."
5. "Look outside. That's your pitch attitude. Now feel the controls — mushy, slow to respond."
6. "Turn left twenty degrees of bank. Notice I add power to hold altitude."

Extraneous activity is excluded from a demonstration; if you deviate from what you explained, acknowledge and explain the deviation immediately (AIH 5-21).

Distractions are the point of stall-awareness training, not a gotcha — NTSB statistics indicate most stall/spin accidents result when a pilot is momentarily distracted from the primary task of flying (AC 61-67C, par. 3). Introduce them once the student can hold the maneuver, brief that they're coming, and debrief the effect.

AC 61-67C par. 200a(10) supplies the list:

• Drop a pencil and ask them to pick it up.
• Ask for a heading to an airport off the chart.
• Ask them to reset the clock.
• Ask them to retrieve something from the back seat.
• Read the OAT.
• Identify a suitable forced-landing field.
• Climb 200 feet and level, then descend 200 feet and level.

The teaching point is the division of attention, not the failure.

Because the published 1G stalling speed is valid only under four conditions (AFH 5-13):

1. In unaccelerated 1G flight
2. In coordinated flight (slip-skid indicator centered)
3. At one weight — typically maximum gross
4. At one CG — typically maximum forward

Change any of them and the number moves. Stall speed rises with the square root of the load factor — an airplane with a 45-knot 1G stall speed can be stalled at 90 knots at 4G (AC 61-67C, par. 100g). Weight increase raises it; aft CG lowers the elevator force needed to reach the critical AOA, making inadvertent entries easier (AC 61-67C, par. 100h–i).

The real lesson: a stall is the result of excessive AOA, not insufficient airspeed (AC 61-67C, par. 100b).

Altitude has little or no effect on indicated stall speed — thinner air just means a higher true airspeed for a given indicated airspeed (AC 61-67C, par. 100j). What changes is performance: at high density altitude a normally aspirated engine makes less power, and slow flight lives on the back side of the curve where power is what holds altitude.

Turbulence is the other environmental factor with teeth: a vertical gust or wind shear can cause an abrupt increase in AOA and stall the airplane at a significantly higher airspeed than in stable conditions (AC 61-67C, par. 100l). If it's rough, fly the demonstration a little faster and say why.

Most training airplanes are built with washout so the wing roots stall before the tips, which leaves some aileron authority at the stall (AFH 5-15). But if the airplane rolls left and the student applies right aileron, the down-going aileron on the left wing increases that wing's AOA and induced drag — a deeper stall at the tip and a stronger roll to the left (AFH 5-15).

The rule to give them, and the one they'll carry into the stall tasks: reduce AOA first, then level the wings.

Say it explicitly in the brief — it's the transfer-of-learning argument. Stall training "builds upon the knowledge and skill acquired from the slow flight maneuver and encompasses the period of time from the stall warning to the stall" (AFH 5-9).

Slow flight is the regime before the warning. Tasks C through H are the regime from the warning to the stall. Task I is what happens when yaw is added to the stall. A student who owns slow flight — sight picture, control feel, rudder discipline — arrives at the stalls with the hard part already done.